Kelly McParland: Canada suffering from sudden stadium shortage

The list of Canadian cities that need stadiums and/or hockey arenas is growing.

Regina has been campaigning for a $431-million domed stadium because it has a CFL football team whose fans would be much more comfortable if they weren’t half-frozen, and because a new stadium would allow the existing facility to be redeveloped into a housing and entertainment district. Hamilton was seeking about $150-million for a hotel/housing/stadium development because it too has a CFL football team, whose ancient home field is falling apart. Quebec wants a new $400-million arena because … well, because it’s Quebec and even though it doesn’t have an NHL team to play in the new rink, anyone who questions the project is anti-Quebec and doesn’t understand the crucial importance of Quebec national ambitions.

Now Halifax needs one too. Actually, Halifax has needed a stadium for some time, but had given up hoping the money to pay for it would magically appear. Defence Minister Peter MacKay, a good, loyal Nova Scotia boy, revived the city’s aspirations on Monday when he alerted civic leaders that the federal government’s financing trough might be open for business.

“We have to be able to justify this to taxpayers,” he said on a visit to town. “It has to be done in a way that doesn’t jeopardize other projects.

“It all has to be done in balance, but is it something that I personally am committed to? Yes it is.”

Mr. MacKay said he’s already had informal chats with Halifax’s mayor and Nova Scotia’s premier, who must have been delighted to hear from him. Why he chose to raise the possibility of federal handouts just weeks before his party is to unveil a budget heavily promoted as big on austerity — and after recently shooting down hopes of getting federal support for a Halifax convention centre — is anyone’s guess.

Does Halifax have a professional football team to play there? Er, no. Is there a prospect of it acquiring one? Uh, not really. Is the need for a stadium any different today than it was, say, five years ago? Well, there’s a chance of being selected as a host city for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup. So that would ensure it was busy for a few weeks, anyway. Other than that there’s always unspecified concerts and trade shows, just like in every other city.

But never mind. Newly energized, Halifax is planning to spend $100,000 on a “feasibility study,” which, I’m willing to bet, will conclude that a stadium is fully feasible, just as long as someone with deep pockets comes along to pick up the tab. Someone like … a government outside of Nova Scotia.

And why not? None of the other needy cities has the money for its project and each has its hand out for taxpayer funds. Ontario’s government has come through for Hamilton, which won’t get a new facility but will be able to rebuild creeky old Ivor Wynne. Quebec’s provincial and municipal governments, both of which are broke, nonetheless claim they can find $400-million for a hockey rink. Nova Scotia, unfortunately, can’t pretend to have that kind of money, so Halifax is stuck looking for a handout from Ottawa. Because — other than equalization funding, regional development support and regular transfer payments from Ottawa — the Atlantic provinces, as we all know, don’t get their fair share from Confederation.

Well, good for Halifax. It has just as much right to demand the rest of the country build it a sports facility as any other city in Canada. And it helps bring home the fact that if Ottawa thinks it can find money for one city (say, in Quebec), and not for a dozen others, it’s dreaming in both official languages, and several local dialects as well.